How the UK recycles millions of dirty old disposable coffee cups

WIRED Awake: 10 must-read articles for 17 February

Your WIRED.co.uk daily briefing. Today, a judge in the USA has ordered Apple to help the FBI crack an encrypted iPhone, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has accused transport regulators of standing in the way of uberPOOL's efforts to reduce pollution and congestion, Google Ideas has become a geopolitical tech incubator called Jigsaw and more.

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A judge in the US state of California has ordered Apple to assist the FBI in its attempt to use brute-force cracking to access data on an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters responsible for killing 14 people in an attack in San Bernadino last year (Motherboard). Specifically, Apple has been ordered to disable a feature which completely deletes the phone's encryption key if you get the password wrong 10 times in a row, rendering all data on the device permanently inaccessible. The case raises signification questions both about whether Apple is even able to do this and, if so, what effect such an exploit could have on the security of general users.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick used the TED stage on Tuesday to attack transport regulators for standing in the way of uberPOOL's mission to cut "congestion, pollution and parking" and reclaim city streets (WIRED.co.uk). "In the US we spend 7 billion hours a year wasted sitting in traffic," Kalanick said. "There's $160 billion wasted in lost productivity; one fifth of our carbon footprint is spewed out of the cars we're sitting in; and 96 per cent of the time your car is sitting idle. Up to 30 per cent of our land and our space is used storing these hunks of steel. We can turn every car into a shared car and we can reclaim our cities starting today."

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Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has announced that Google Ideas is the latest division of the firm to become a named company under Alphabet (Re/Code). Now called Jigsaw, Schmidt writes that "the team’s mission is to use technology to tackle the toughest geopolitical challenges, from countering violent extremism to thwarting online censorship to mitigating the threats associated with digital attacks". Google Ideas chief Jared Cohen will continue his role as the president of Jigsaw.

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Volkswagen's got a radical plan to fix ride-sharing and car ownership

ByKatia Moskvitch

Paul Raines, the CEO of US game retailer GameStop, has leaked details of when we can expect to see Sony's PlayStation VR hardware on the shelves (Gizmodo). During a live TV interview, Raines said that "We will launch the Sony product this fall and we’re in discussions with the other two players." This is the first confirmed update to last year's news that PlayStation VR was tentatively due for release this spring.

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The European Space Agency has successfully launched the Sentinel-3A satellite, the third part of the Copernicus program, a network of satellites that the ESA says will form the most sophisticated Earth observation system ever launched (Phys.org). Sentinel-3A's equipment includes instruments for measuring sea and surface temperature, and allows data to be sent back in a short period of time, helping to track climate change and improve short-term weather forecasts.

Nizar Romdan, ecosystem director for ARM, the company behind the chips that power the majority of mobile devices, has said that new graphics processors ARM is developing with partners including Nvidia, Samsung and Texas Instruments will rival the graphics quality of current-generation games consoles by the end of 2017 (VentureBeat). Speaking at the Casual Connect Europe conference, Romdan said that "if you take today’s high-end smartphone or tablet, the performance is already better than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It's catching up quickly with Xbox One and PlayStation 4." He also observed that mobile VR could further level the field between home computers and portable devices.

University of Copenhagen researchers have found that mice who spent their free time on a running wheel saw a 50 percent reduction in tumour size compared with less active rodents (Science Daily). The scientists found that the adrenaline surge associated with high-intensity activity helped cancel-killing 'natural killer' (NK) immune cells move towards lung, liver or skin tumors implanted in the mice. Senior author Pernille Hojman said that "our data suggest that it might be beneficial [for cancer sufferers] to exercise at a somewhat high intensity in order to provoke a good epinephrine surge and hence recruitment of NK cells."

Researchers working for Google and Red Hat have discovered a bug in the GNU C Library (glibc), a standard element of almost all Linux installations, that can render systems vulnerable to remote code execution (Ars Technica). A patch has been released and should immediately be applied where possible. Android devices are not affected, as they use the alternative Bionic C library.

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How the UK recycles millions of dirty old disposable coffee cups

ByRichard Priday

Instagram has finally added the option of dual-factor authentication, allowing users to add a phone number so that new login attempts using your username and password will also require an authentication code that will be texted to your registered number (TechCrunch). Instagram accounts can be heavily monetised, with some users contracting with major advertisers, making extra account security a long-need feature on the platform.

Nintendo has launched its new Nintendo Account system, a cross-platform user account that will work on both console and mobile platforms (TheNextWeb). Users will need one to sign up for Nintendo's Mitomo social app for mobile phones, due to launch next month, and it'll also include a rewards programme to replace the former Club Nintendo scheme. Nintendo Accounts are distinct from Nintendo Network IDs, used by 3DS and Wii users, but you can connect your ID to your new Account, as well as social media accounts including Facebook, G+ and Twitter.

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Fortnite shunning the Android Play Store is a major security headache

ByKatia Moskvitch

Street Fighter V, Capcom's premiere beat-'em-up series moves into a new era. Not only does it bring with it all the expected upgrades of a new entry -- unseen characters, new arenas, and an overall refinement of combat -- it also sets out to position itself as the definitive game in the series. Whereas previous instalments have iterated over time -- Super Street Fighters, Ultra Street Fighters, and more -- Street Fighter V will last the console generation, updating the core game with additional fighters and new features over time. It also introduces cross-platform online play, allowing PlayStation 4 and PC players to compete against each other for the first time. WIRED speaks to series producer Yoshinori Ono about what went into reimagining Street Fighter for a new age, his future plans for the game and how the internet can't replace arcades.

We explore the future of food from the end of meat to closed loop cocktails, edible packaging and egg-free omelettes. Plus we go inside Noma, one of the world's best restaurants, which is leading the way in fermenting and foraging. Out now in print, iPad and iPhone. Subscribe now and save.

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